Aryna Sabalenka lost to American Jessica Pegula in the second round of the group stage

At the final tournament of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in Cancun, Mexico, with a prize fund of $9 million, the current leader of the world classification, Belarusian Arina Sabalenka, suffered her first defeat in the second round of the group stage. Having lost in two games to American Jessica Pegula, she somewhat complicated her task in the fight for first place at the end of the season, which Iga Szwiatek from Poland is also really claiming.

One of the key factors influencing the progress of the WTA Finals was the organizational factor. The WTA announced the choice of Cancun as the venue for its final tournament quite late, only on September 7, abandoning the option with Prague, which was considered the main one and looked the most attractive for most tennis players. Thus, WTA functionaries caused general surprise. The Czech side offered good conditions, agreeing to rent the well-equipped O2 Arena hall, and separately secured guaranteed admission to the tournament for those athletes from Russia and Belarus who, according to the rating, would be among the participants. In addition, just a day after the conclusion of the WTA Finals in Seville, the final stage of the Billie Jean King Cup, an unofficial world team championship held by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), also begins under the roof.

Meanwhile, there are no direct flights between Cancun and Seville, and as a result, some of the world elite, who did not want to be overloaded at the end of the season, simply refused to play for their national teams.

As for Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan, the representative of the Czech Republic Marketa Vondrousova, as well as several young women – Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, Australian Storm Hunter, Czech Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, who were included in the applications of their teams for the Billie Jean Cup Finals, they will first have to get to Spain across the ocean on transfer planes, and then immediately adapt to the change in time zones and enter into battle without undergoing acclimatization.

And just before the start of the WTA Finals, another, even more serious problem, directly related to this competition, came into the spotlight. Due to delays in the construction of a temporary open arena, the stands of which are prefabricated metal structures, the tennis players had the opportunity to try out the new court only the day before the start. Each was allocated approximately one hour. For a tournament of this level, this situation is unprecedented, and it is not surprising that the WTA received a barrage of harsh criticism from the players. All eight participants without exception expressed their complaints during the first match days. And the leader of the world ranking, Arina Sabalenka, spoke out harshest of all, perhaps, and accused the WTA of disrespecting the athletes. “Sometimes I think it’s just dangerous to move on this court. This is clearly not the level of organization that should exist here,” she noted.

However, in the first round of the group stage, Sabalenka at least achieved the result she wanted. Greek Maria Sakkari was able to take only one game from her. But the second meeting, with American Jessica Pegula, was unsuccessful for the Belarusian. She conceded in two games, and since another tennis player from this group, Elena Rybakina, is in a tough fight coped with Sakkari, Pegula guaranteed herself a place in the semi-finals from first place. The other ticket to the play-offs from this group will be played for Sabalenka and Rybakina on Thursday.

Thus, one of the main tournament intrigues associated with the fight for first place in the ranking at the end of the year between Sabalenka and her closest pursuer Iga Szwiatek from Poland has intensified significantly.

Under no circumstances should the Belarusian be inferior to the representative of Kazakhstan. Otherwise, she will not only not be able to continue the dispute for the championship title in Cancun, but will also give Swiatek a good chance to lead the world classification again: it will be enough for the Polish tennis player to win the title with any win-loss ratio in the group stage. If Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open this year, makes it to the playoffs but fails to make it to the finals, then the task of the Polish Roland Garros champion will become more difficult. She will also need to take the title, but with a maximum of one defeat in the group.

In any case, the situation is under the control of Aryna Sabalenka, who is guaranteed to remain first if she reaches the final. The match with Elena Rybakina promises to be nervous. Its outcome is unpredictable, but in a series of personal meetings between these two tennis players, the Belarusian is ahead with a score of 4:2.

Evgeniy Fedyakov